‘Misk Lake’ is a massive cess pool into which is dumped sewage and waste waters from the city of Jeddah. Much of Jeddah is not on a municipal sewage system, but instead relies on septic tanks and temporary storage of waste that is later pumped into tanker trucks which are emptied into the ‘Lake’. The lake, a natural depression, is surrounded by a several concentric berms and has a variety of pumps and desalination facilities to clean up the waste water sufficiently to permit its being channeled into the Red Sea. Not surprisingly, it’s difficult to find accurate descriptions of a sewage containment area in the media. The Saudi Geological Survey has done investigatory work on the Lake, but its website is currently being flagged as potential malware by Google!
The thought of a massive lake, filled with polluted water, laying upstream from the city is not a pleasant one, particularly for those living closest to it. The heavy rains of last week boosted the fear of overflow or a breach in the walls, so an advisory was issued to those living nearby. That advisory was taken as a danger alert by many, however, which lead to a blaze of rumors sweeping the city. Some of these reported that the dam had burst, creating more than a little panic. In a country where bad news tends to be downplayed by the media, rumors replace authoritative reporting.
Now, Saudi Gazette/Okaz are belatedly offering that reporting…
Advisory creates panic over Misk Lake
Abdulaziz GhazzawiJEDDAH – Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, played down public fears Monday that the Misk Lake barrier was leaking, saying that the apparent leakage came from floodwaters leaking from a secondary evaporation lake connected with the 10-meter-high main defense barrier of Misk Lake.
The leakage did not come through the main defense barrier, and there is nothing alarming as of now, he said. The water level at Misk Lake has decreased, he said. It was believed to have risen to 14 meters, just 4 meters away from the top of the barrier.
The prince was speaking shortly after his inspection visit to the lake Monday.
He ordered close surveillance of Misk Lake in case of overflowing or leakage. Residents around the lake should be alerted to any danger that the lake may pose, Prince Khaled told authorities, vowing to rid Jeddah of its drainage nightmare forever.
…
Note to the SGS: You might want to check why Google is blocking access to your site!
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December:01:2009 - 08:37
Yeah the lake is “safe” … and General Custer’s last words were probably “We got nothing to worry ’bout them stupid Injuns”.
See my earlier post below:
http://xrdarabia.org/2009/11/30/keeping-jeddah-dry/comment-page-1/#comment-25589
December:01:2009 - 18:37
Oh My gosh…they dump raw sewage into a lake? Did I understand that correctly? They don’t have water treatment plants???? what are they doing with their oil money??? That is a disaster waiting to happen on so many levels I can’t even imagine a failure.
December:01:2009 - 19:09
It’s a ‘lake’ only because it has sewage in it. Otherwise, it was a dry depression. Sewage treatment is a developing industry in the KSA. Water treatment, on the other hand, is fairly well developed, particularly when it comes to desalination.
December:01:2009 - 23:22
Misk means “Gum” I think? IF someone knows please let me know. I thought some were calling it Musk. I would never ever live in Jeddah because of the pollution and infrastructure. I wanted to roll down the windows there while in the car and people were like, “WOE WOE don’t do that…we don’t want to smell that crap!”
May I recommend Veolia Water! I know they have some work there with the desalination. They have a really good sewage treatment package too
I am sure it would fit into the oil rich budget.
http://www.veoliawater.com/
December:01:2009 - 23:56
It is Misk IS Musk which is a sarcastic local name, that has stuck, because Musk is the most beautiful smell. (Mistika is gum).
I don’t know how safe that lake really is. There are cracks in the damn and I heard that they released some (I’ve heard ALOT) of the sewage east into the desert. I guess better that than having it run down onto the city. Oh. And there’s apparently a good chance of rain this weekend.
December:02:2009 - 02:48
Can anyone let us know how far is this lake from AlSafa District??
December:02:2009 - 10:17
Liquid sewage–an unusually bad option for overflowing. How much would be toxic, corrosive, and fetid before it started accumulating new attributes in its overflow path and overtime is mind boggling.
December:02:2009 - 18:56
Serendipitously, I came across this today. It seems that dealing with sewage is not just a Saudi problem.
December:02:2009 - 21:24
”
They don’t have water treatment plants???? what are they doing with their oil money??? That is a disaster waiting to happen on so many levels I can’t even imagine a failure.”
I couldn’t have said it better, oby!
Who is responsible for this disaster in such a so-called rich country like ours?
Who are the people mostly affected by this? The rich or the poor?
Absolutely disgusitng!
I wish that the lake explodes and affects every street in Jeddah , so that they are forced to empty their pockets and rebuild Jeddah…and of course, when I say forced, I don’t mean forced by the people or because of the people; i mean they will be forced to save their (image)LOL!
December:02:2009 - 23:24
Recall that Gaza had a similar situation a few years ago. A sewage lake burst and the effluent killed some people. What an awful way to go. There was alot of blame to pass around.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6498835.stm
SEWAGE FLOOD CAUSES GAZA DEATHS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6500079.stm
PICTURES
December:02:2009 - 23:57
Thank you for the link about the sewage problem in the U.S. particularly N.Y. It is odd how people prioritize spending. It would seem to me that spending in this area is a big priority. Also punishing violators would be a big priority as well. If people don’t feel the consequences of their actions, they will keep repeating them. What upsets me mostly about the Jeddah problem is that there was an amount allotted for this project, but the money obviously fell a few inches too short of its expectations. If I were in America, I would be more of an activist especially in this area.
“In October, the E.P.A. administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, said she was overhauling how the Clean Water Act is enforced.” Lack of oversight has been mentioned time and time again in violations of the law of all sorts.
“The E.P.A. would rather look the other way than crack down on cities, since punishing municipalities can cause political problems,” said Craig Michaels of Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy group. “But without enforcement and fines, this problem will never end.”
I know that I sleep better at night knowing such groups exist and exert their efforts to make the environment a safer place.
The article is interesting in that it mentions leaves blocking drains and I heard a comment from someone at the Saudi gazette I think saying someone had said a plastic bag had blocked a drain. I had a newspaper block a drain in my old house and flood the top of my roof. Now I am in a different home I go to the roof regularly to inspect it and make sure nothing is blocking the drains. I regularly sweep it to make sure it doesn’t get blocked with debris. You live and learn. At my last home, there was considerable water damage due to a blocked drain (water seeped into the walls) but I will not allow that to happen again.